'Far right' and BLM protesters clash in London, police intervene

Bloomberg
Sat, 13 Jun 2020 12:00 UTC

© metro.co.uk

BLM and 'far right' protesters clash in London

Hordes of angry, white males, many of them chanting soccer slogans, swept into central London Saturday, fighting with police who were trying to keep them away from social justice demonstrators. "Racist thuggery has no place on our streets," Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Twitter.

The protests following George Floyd's death continued their global spread, focused on social injustice and colonial histories. In Paris, police used tear gas to disperse protesters, who were prevented from a march and were forced to demonstrate at Place de la Republique.

Earlier, thousands attended peaceful Black Lives Matter protests across Australia on Saturday as part of an anti-racism campaign highlighting deaths of indigenous people in custody.

In the U.S., protests were smaller Saturday than last weekend's record rallies. In Atlanta, demonstrators gathered at a restaurant where a black suspect died after being shot by police late Friday. The police said the suspect failed a sobriety test and resisted arrest.

Marchers congregated again near the White House. President Donald Trump postponed a rally scheduled in Tulsa on June 19th, tenth observance of when enslaved people in Texas belatedly learned of their emancipation. It will be rescheduled for the next day, he said in a tweet, "out of respect for this Holiday." Several U.S. businesses declared the day a holiday.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said to protesters Saturday "you won" and encouraged them now to engage in an effort to reform all of the state's police forces by April 1.

Key developments:

Protesters in Paris demonstrated against the death in 2016 of a black Frenchman in police custody. Police used tear gas to stop a planned march.

Aboriginal people are denouncing violence at the hands of police in Australia.

People decorate the "Autonomous Zone" in Seattle.

The protests continue, as do sometimes violent interactions with the police.

More statues were felled in America, while in England a statue of Edward Colston was pulled out of the water.

President Trump has warned Seattle to crack down on its police-free protest neighborhood, saying if they didn't he would.

Comment: RT provides footage of the events in London:

Comment: See also: History and psychology predict protests and riots after lockdowns